I didn't accomplish as much on the bar last weekend as I wanted. Had a few other projects that needed to be completed instead.

I am still figuring out how I want to eventually carve the trim around the bar. Here's the latest rendition which also shows the front awning (decided to go with same metal roofing based on suggestions that thatch would be a maintenance headache). I'm planning to back light the "eyes" in the trim under the bar.

Thanks.... yeah they sort of have that look to them...not as fancy as some I have seen though. I have them on a dimmer as well and the filament looks pretty cool when its run at about 20%. I've thought about making shades for them to "tiki" them up a bit, but they don't look bad as is and really crank the light when I turn them up to full power.

Here's another slightly tweaked mock up...got to thinking it might look cool to attach tongues to the trim under the bar to give it a little more pop. I'm going to keep an eye out for some material to use for this. Its farily protected underneath the overhang.

hey Jim, looking awesome as always!!! you have some series carpenter skills and a knack for using the computer programs to see how it will look before starting! I'm so jealous, other than the fact you live in MI, lol
keep up the good work, btw need any more skulls or African shields??
paul

Its been awhile since I updated my thread. I've been busy working on the tiki bar and will get some updated photos around showing progress. But now that cool weather is here and I am working on winterizing the lounge, I thought I would share some photos of the flora and fauna I took over the summer around the KioWai Lounge.

My awesome hibiscus died from the cold winter last year...but these lilies were looking good this summer.

Nothing seems to slow these trumpet vines. But conditions were very good for them this summer. There's always several hummingbirds buzzing around these flowers. Around Labor Day, I was out by the pool and noticed a strange hummingbird and upon further investigation, I realized it was a hummingbird moth. (I'm including a photo, but its not mine.)

This was the year of the shrew at the KioWai. I rescued several of these guys from the pool as well as many more that weren't as fortunate:

I had no idea the tree frogs got as big as this. This tree frog was about 4-inches long. I found him hanging out on some fence boards I had removed to work on the tiki bar.

Among my many summer projects, the biggest was replacing our drainfield. I had to replant the grass in my entire backyard and had several bales of straw brought into cover the seed. I was getting a bale off the pile which was eye level when I noticed these guys...

My bananas did a lot better this year since I started them earlier than last. Last year's batch didn't make it over the winter...admittedly, I didn't do anything to winterize them since last fall there was a good chance we were going to be relocating (which didn't happen). I dug these up last weekend and will try to keep them going inside over the winter. They are now about 5-feet tall and each leaf is bigger than the previous.

Thanks to another TC member posting about a tiki she found at a Home Depot in Texas, I was able to track down two resin tikis to add to my outdoor collection. Getting them shipped from a Home Depot in Arlington, TX was not easy...fortunately I found a sympathetic person at the customer service desk to help me out. They are the ones on each side of this photo:

Here are a few updates I've made to the bar over the past couple months.

Added a few more tikis to the collection:

Completely rebuilt the back bar area. Finishing it off with bac-bac matting for now. Lots of plans for the backwall, but needed to get that white fence covered. This photo shows a couple other new additions including the awesome Tiki Skip double float lamp hanging on the right in this photo. I've also added a string of vintage moai head lamps on a dimmer to each side of the bar (inside). I had two sets of lights that were different size moai heads, so I combined them so that every other one is larger/smaller. It was easier than trying to find another matching set of lights for now. I also found 3 of the large moai head lamps seen on the left of the photo...I have a red, amber and green one. This picture only shows the red one currently in the bar.

I also have been working on the trim on top and bottom of the bamboo on the outside of the bar.

I decided to go with a fairly simple carve for the outside trim as opposed to animals that I had previously posted in a mock up. With both the top and bottom trim, I went with a pattern that ties in the triangular shape of the roof. Its one of the more common patterns seen on trim here on TC...hopefully I'm not infringing on anyone's copyright on this pattern.

The top is a little more unique. The idea was to make it look somewhat like eyes. The carve pattern is based on a cowrie shell shape. Then in between each eye, there are small triangles to again tie in with the structure. I was further inspired by the light that we discussed earlier in this build thread (which isn't very tiki, but I like it):

I cut out holes in my pattern and added a glass lens for eyes. There is a little compartment behind the trim that I ran an individually addressable LED strip light so that they colors can be changed.

In addition to the individually addressable LED strip behind the "eye trim", there is also a led strip light behind the trim facing down so that it indirectly shines down on the bamboo and provides a little "courtesy light" for walking around the bar. It is also RGB so its color can be adjusted. I tend to like the red/amber light the best around the bar...easy on the eyes and sets a more relaxing mood. Here is a photo trying to show the lighting. Night photos are difficult...especially with LEDs. They tend to look more like lasers in night photos. I'm still working on dialing them down for the right subtle effect. But they do look better than this photo suggests.

I'm still working on completing the other two sides of top trim and will post some photos when its complete. Hopefully can make more progress before it gets too cold to want to work on it.

So yeah...I guess with my light up trim my bar slides further off the scale of traditional tiki. I guess it probably trends more towards kitsch tiki. But I'm building it to be fun and different, so far I think I'm still on target to achieve that.

On 2014-10-26 11:29, LoriLovesTiki wrote:Looking good. Those HD look good in photos. I got the Moai but now I'm going to try to get those too.

My guess is those will be super hard to find now. I tracked down the company that imported them and spoke with them on the phone. They said the tikis were part of a special promotion called Hawaiian Daze that was only at Home Depots in the southwestern states. They said because it was such a success that HD is going to role that promotion out to the rest of the country next summer. They indicated that his company only supplied HD's on the west coast..I think only as far east as Kansas he mentioned. But he was hopeful that as they expand the Hawaiian Daze promotion that his area could also increase. (His company is one of the plant suppliers...so they apparently HD has different regional suppliers.)

So hopefully we will see some new styles come out next summer and they will be available nationally or at least on their website (which these were never on their site).

Hope you can find the tikis Lori. If I come across any leads I will let you know.

You're right. No sightings of those HD tikis anywhere on the their website. I thought they were the ones I had seen previously but I was mistaken. The tikis on their website are WAY uglier!!! I am hoping they will expand next summer as you mentioned. Good information.... thanks!
_________________:-)
Lori

Thanks for the kind words! I never saw the snakes again after that day. Hopefully once their hay bales were removed they moved on to another haunt.

As many of my recent additions to the Kio Wai Lounge have been hand made by either me or others here on TC, I had been considering whether to keep the original two masks that I bought when I started out. Anyways, I was shocked last week when I noticed that a woodpecker had gone after one of the masks. He almost got his hole centered which goes all the way through the mask.

Having this happen really makes me think twice about investing in a nice big hand carved tiki for my area. I wouldn't be half as amused if this were a piece that I really cared about.

Looking good Jim.
Me I would want a bird nest in my tiki.
Pull that tiki out a bit from the wall and add a nest or bird house in back.
How cool to have a bird flying in and out of your spot.
Disney's are fake yours would be real.
We have woodpeckers all over never had this though.
Put tiki on edge of your spot though as the birds will try to run you out
when they do nest there.
Especially wrens.

Also on your tiki in your hut have you thought about up or down lighting those?
Would use lights that you can dim but this would be a cheap way to add a nice
glow to your space.
Up light is better as then you won't see light as much and you
get the spill lighting on ceiling.